Do local financial and legal systems affect SMEs capital structure?

This note investigates the role of institutional differences at the local level as determinants of firms' capital structure. Specifically, its aim is to empirically assess whether and to what extent SMEs' financial decisions are affected by local financial development – evaluating this influence both ceteris paribus, and by allowing it to be conditional on different levels of legal enforcement inefficiency. Controlling for debt inertia, firms' heterogeneity and endogeneity problems, we find that local financial development may be an important determinant of SMEs' capital structure, and that firms appear to have better access to financial debt in areas characterized by a higher quality of the legal system. Thus, despite the international process of capital markets integration, local financial institutions do not seem to become irrelevant for SMEs, which are in need of well developed institutions at local level to gain easier access to external financial resources.firms' capital structure; bank debt; local financial development; local enforcement system, SMEs.

At the Crossroads: The History of the Greek-Catholic Church in Lithuania

Straipsnis skirtas graikų apeigų katalikų istorijos tyrimams. Siekiant aptarti Lietuvos graikų-katalikų bendruomenės gyvenimą XX a. pabaigoje, glaustai apžvelgiama Unitų Bažnyčios istorija. Sovietinė valdžia dėjo visas pastangas sunaikinti religines bendruomenes, nors oficialiai buvo deklaruojama religinė laisvė. Graikų-katalikų bažnyčia buvo viena iš labiausiai persekiojamų religinių bendruomenių. Lietuvos istorijoje egzistavo trys skirtingos unitų bendruomenės: rutenų bendruomenė, Rusijos katalikų bendruomenė ir graikų-katalikų bendruomenė, kurią sudaro Vilniuje gyvenantys ukrainiečiai bei kitų etninių grupių Lietuvos gyventojai. Straipsnyje keliamas klausimas, ar galima apibrėžti Lietuvos graikų-katalikų Bažnyčios savitumą? Pripažįstanti Romos sostą ir tęsianti bizantiško dvasingumo tradiciją graikų-katalikų Bažnyčia išsaugojo savo ekleziastinį tapatumą. Graikų-katalikų Bažnyčia Lietuvoje patyrė daug pokyčių, tačiau išlaikė ištikimybę Romai ir Bizantijos tradicijai. Unitai užėmė reikšmingą vietą Lietuvos istorijoje, tačiau ar jų vaidmuo yra lygiai toks pats prasmingas ir šiandien? Graikų-katalikų buvimas pastebimas ir šiandien: norintys patekti į Vilniaus centrą per Aušros vartus, turi kirsti Bazilijonų gatvę, kurioje esanti Švč. Trejybės bažnyčia priklauso graikų apeigų katalikų tikintiesiems. Graikų-katalikų Bažnyčia Lietuvoje išlaiko savo svarbą: ji reprezentuoja gyvą istorinį paveldą, kuris rodo, kad bizantiškieji Rytai atliko svarbų vaidmenį Lietuvos istorijoje.The article is dedicated to the research of Greek Catholic history. In order to discuss the life of Lithuania’s Greek Catholic community at the end of the twentieth century, a brief overview of the Uniate Church is provided. The Soviet government made every effort to destroy religious communities, although the freedom of religion was officially declared. The Greek Catholic Church was one of the most persecuted religious communities. In Lithuania’s history there were three different Uniate communities: the Ruthenium community, the Russian Catholic community, and the Greek Catholic community, which consists of Ukrainians living in Vilnius and Lithuanian residents of other ethnic groups. The article raises the question of whether or not it is possible to define the specificity of Lithuania’s Greek Catholic Church. While recognising the Roman throne and continuing the tradition of Byzantine spirituality, the Greek Catholic Church has retained its ecclesiastical identity. The Greek Catholic Church in Lithuania changes, but has maintained loyalty to Rome and the Byzantine tradition. Uniates took a significant place in the history of Lithuania; however, is their role is exactly the same sense today? The presence of Greek Catholics is also noticeable today: To get to the centre of Vilnius through the Gates of Dawn, have to cross Bazilijonų Street, in which the Church of the Blessed Trinity belongs to Greek Catholic believers. The Greek Catholic Church retains its importance in Lithuania: it represents a vibrant historical heritage, which shows that the Byzantine East played an important role in the history of Lithuania

Antithrombotic therapy with rivaroxaban in five patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria and thrombotic events

Five patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria and thrombotic complications under oral antithrombotic treatment with vitamin K antagonist were switched to receive the direct oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban an factor Xa inhibitor. In all five patients haematological and biochemical parameters and adverse events were evaluated for a period of twelve months. Therapy with rivaroxaban was well tolerated in all cases and one patient showed a significant reduction of bleeding and transfusion requirement. All patients obtained a significant reduction in days of hospitalization with a consequent improvement in their quality of life after rivaroxaban treatment

Adrenomedullin in pancreatic carcinoma. a case-control study of 22 patients

Pancreatic carcinoma is a leading cause of cancer-related death. Reduction of the diagnostic delay is mandatory. Adrenomedullin (AM) is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. A case-control study including 12 patients with pathological diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma and 10 healthy controls was conducted at our Institution. Blood samples were obtained at the time of hospitalization and post-operatively for cases. Controls’ samples were obtained from healthy volunteers. AM was measured by using enzyme immunoassay method. AM showed significant increase in pancreatic carcinoma patients vs controls (4.51 ng/ml vs 1.91 ng/ml, p value = 0.04) regardless of tumor stage, differentiation, resecability/unresecability, diabetes. A cut-off of 1.75 ng/ml reaches a sensibility of 83% and a specificity of 70% (p value = 0.0147; CL 95%; AUC 0.767). The increase of AM didn’t correlate with the increase of other common tumor markers (CA 19-9 and CEA), nor direct bilirubin. These data confirm the utility of studying the role of AM in pancreatic cancer, in order to achieve an early diagnosis in high risk populations